메인메뉴 바로가기본문으로 바로가기
네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

China’s Foremost Art Institute Offers Korean Art Courses

The Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China’s foremost institution of advanced art education, has launched a Korean art program that offers the first-ever formal course on Korea art history in China. This breakthrough could well serve as a catalyst to activate further Korea-China academic exchange in the fields of art and culture.



It was quite surprising and hardly understandable why there has been such a lack of Korean art history courses at the university level in China, in spite of the age-old history of Sino-Korean cultural exchange. Moreover, a number of art history courses related to India and Japan have been available for sometime at Chinese universities. In an effort to rectify this situation, the Korea Foundation extended its assistance to help introduce the richness of Korea’s artistic and cultural heritage to art students in China. Of particular note, Director Moon Sung-ki of the Foundation’s Beijing Office played a vital role in getting the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the foremost art institute in China, to agree to offer courses on Korean art history.

Essence of Korean Art
During the previous semester, the Central Academy of Chinese offered a special lecture series on Korean art history, in which invited speakers presented the essence of Korean art and the history of its development. While learning new information about Korean art, with which they had little familiarity, the students expressed keen interest in the influences and developments that resulted from Sino-Korean exchanges, along with a desire to enroll in additional in-depth classes on Korean art history.
This momentum led to the opening of a formal course in the current semester. The three-hour a week course, which included an enrollment of 43 third-year students, was designated a mandatory course for art history majors. For this Korean art history course, comprised of 15 lecture sessions, I was named the instructor, thanks in part to my earning a doctorate degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. There are also plans to present three special lectures by Korean experts in cinema, photography, and design.
The Korean art history classes provided comprehensive information about Korea’s visual arts and cultural development from ancient to contemporary times: six sessions on ancient art history (Korean history and ancient Korean art, arts of the Three Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern States, arts of Goryeo, arts of Joseon, and special themes of ancient Korean art), three classes on ancient Korean culture (court culture, bureaucratic system, and popular culture), four on modern and contemporary art history (modern and contemporary history, modern art, and contemporary art), and two on Korea’s art galleries, museums, and sites of historical and cultural importance, by region. The classes are presented in Chinese with powerpoint outlines that are supplemented by an abundance of images, in an effort to convey the true qualities and details of Korean arts and culture. In addition, much focus was placed on explaining how Chinese influences were incorporated into Korean arts, and the new directions that were eventually developed by Korean artists.



Introducing Korea’s Art History
For the students of this course, who had come to understand Korea through Korean TV dramas and movies, this has been an eye-opening experience that has exposed hem to the true beauty of Korea’s artistic heritage, and to the history and culture of Korea. Most students did not know that t he Korean people had used Chinese characters since ancient times, while others gained a new perspective, contrary to their previous understanding, from the classes on the arts of Goguryeo and Balhae. The art history students sought to understand Korean art history through the application of Chinese research methodology.
Students focused intently on the influences of Sino-Korean historical relations and art exchange, along with matters related to comparative analyses. In this way, the new courses at the academy can serve as a meaningful opportunity to promote Korean art history, together with Korea’s artistic circles, among the art history students and specialists in China. Upon the conclusion of this course, I intend to compile a collection of selected papers on Korean art history written by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
As other artistic figures in China heard about the Korean art history courses at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, I have been contacted by such organizations as the Palace Museum and Central University for Nationalities, which have inquired about my availability to present lectures on Korea-China artistic and cultural exchange. Nowadays, interest in Korean art history has been on the rise at institutions and seminar gatherings abroad. In line with its rapid economic development, China has also shown a heightened interest in the richness of Korea’s culture and arts.
Laozi is known to have once said: “No matter how huge a tree might become, it grows from a tiny sprout.” Accordingly, Korea needs to make careful preparations and adopt a step-by-step approach to promote the splendor of Korea’s cultural heritage to the people of China. I am determined to put forth my utmost endeavors until the day when I can see my students become instructors of Korean art history in China. I thus look forward to the continued assistance of the Korea Foundation in this historic quest.

SEARCH

통합검색

통합검색버튼
통합검색닫기

전체메뉴

전체메뉴 닫기